Public Information Forum On Community Choice Aggregation 2/26 And Other Events And Resources

If you are interested in helping Solarize Albany continue its work in 2018, please contact William Reinhardt at ww.reinhardt@gmail.com or go to the meeting listed above.

Public Information Forum on Community Choice Aggregation (CCA)
Monday, February 26th
6:30-8:30 pm
at the Albany Public Library161 Washington Ave. Albany, large auditorium:

Making a rapid transition to renewable electricity is one of the most critical acts we can take to “decarbonize” our atmosphere. Community Choice Aggregation (CCA), approved for NY State by the Public Service Commission, may be the way to make this happen quickly in an entire municipality, with people paying no more than they are now for their default electricity supply.

When a local government agrees to join a CCA, by default all customers in the community will purchase their electricity through the CCA unless they opt out. Multiple governments join together in the CCA. The large volume of customers enable the CCA to obtain lower prices while promoting renewable energy. CCAs are more common on the West Coast but NYS now allows them; the first started over a year ago in Westcheser.

Come listen to Kelly Strait of the Public Service Commission and Robyn Reynolds of the Capital District Regional Planning Commission (a NYSERDA subcontractor) explain what CCA is, why the PSC and NYSERDA are hoping communities will work to adopt it, and how it can contribute to the clean energy revolution in a big way. Also present will be Sue Hughes-Smith, member of the Rochester People’s Climate Coalition who will discuss their efforts to start a CCA. The forum will consist of three short presentations by our speakers followed by an hour of lively questions and answers.

Also on hand will be CCA Administrators – for-profit and non-profit businesses that communities contract with to make the CCA happen. The administrators will be on hand to answer our questions about CCAs and what the administrator’s role is.

(Note: Please park in the back parking lot of the library on Elk Street since the front door to the library closes at 8 pm.)

Community Advocates for Sustainable Energy (a committee of SNYFGP) will give a presentation on the differences and opportunities for onsite and offsite (community) solar in our area.

High Peaks Solar, Hudson Solar and Monolith Solar will be present to answer questions about their community solar farms (and onsite solar installations) for NYSEG and National Grid customers in the Capital Region area, as well as companies that you can sign up with to supply you with renewable energy for your electricity

We created the Think Resilience course to help more people understand how and why we should work to build more resilient communities. We hope you’ll start the course today or share your interest in resilience by purchasing gift access for your friends, family, and colleagues.

This has been one of the best learning experiences I have undertaken. Thank you for arranging it so well. […] This course gave me so much clarity, and really some big ah-ha moments around our belief systems and the physics of consciousness that lie deep in our culture of consumerism.”- Think Resilience Course Participant

Far More Methane Leaking at Oil, Gas Sites in Pennsylvania than Reported

An EDF comparison of company-reported data and research measurements finds as much as 5 times more methane, a climate-warming greenhouse gas, is leaking.

Leaks of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, from oil and gas sites in Pennsylvania could be five times greater than industry reports to state regulators, according to a new analysis by the Environmental Defense Fund.

Drawing from peer-reviewed research based on measurements collected downwind of oil and gas sites, along with government data, the EDF analysis estimates that the state’s oil and gas wells and infrastructure leak more than 520,000 tons of methane annually, largely due to faulty equipment.

“This wasted gas causes the same near-term climate pollution as 11 coal-fired power plants and results in nearly $68 million worth of wasted energy resources,” the group said in its report, released Thursday.

The underreporting of methane leaks in Pennsylvania is part of a nationwide pattern that peer-reviewed studies have uncovered in recent years as scientists compare federal and state statistics to data they gather on the ground and in aircraft flyovers.

The disparity between what researchers find and what industry reports raises important questions about the actual level of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States and the viability of natural gas as an alternative to coal, if limits aren’t placed on methane leaks from gas and oil infrastructure.